The Murder of Jamal Khalifa

Just came across some unfortunate news. Apparently, the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden was murdered in his hotel room today by an armed gang in Madagascar. "The murder happened around 1:30 am (2230 GMT) in the morning around Sakaraha. Jamal Khalifa was attacked by about 10 bandits. He was in a hotel. They stole a laptop computer and a suitcase," Ramananarivo (the chief investigator of the murder) told the Associated Free Press.

The question is: who did this? And, perhaps more importantly, why? Was this just an armed gang taking some very obscure vengeance for the bombing of a US embassy in Tanazania by al-Qaeda? It seems utterly illogical that they would. Madagascar and Tanzania have very peripheral ethnic relations with one another. Aside from that, there is very little association between the two countries that would cause the murderers to feel any sort of kinship with those killed in the terrorist attacks. Additionally, Jamal was only a brother-in-law to Osama bin Laden. The family has already disowned Osama and maintain no contact with him. So killing his brother-in-law wouldn't really be a major blow against the man. But, then again, killing Jamal might have been the worst a mob of thugs in a backwater African country could do.

More likely, it was simply a coincidence that Jamal has any relation to Osama bin Laden. Mr. Khalifa was a gem trader in Madagascar with several other businessmen from Saudi Arabia. It may very well have been that the killing was just something that happened as a side-effect of a theft. The armed thugs might have been aware of some valuable information on the gem industry in Madagascar on his laptop.

But there is a sneaking suspicion that surrounds the killing. It smacks of the same distastefulness and political intrigue that went with the murder of Litvinenko. There were no radioactive isotopes involved here. But who has an interest in Africa, a desire to capture Osama bin Laden, a lot of money to throw around, and a tendency to not have any moral qualms with committing acts of murder? A lot of countries and agencies come to mind. But chief among them is the United States of America and their CIA.

Was Jamal still keeping in touch with his brother-in-law Osama bin Laden? Did the NSA get wind of some suspiscious communication traffic from Jamal's laptop? Did the CIA commission some vagrants in the streets of Madagascar to kill Jamal, take his belongings, and drop them off for their reward? It's possible. But like the murder of Litvinenko, we may never know why Jamal Khalifa died. And that, in itself, feels like a sore defeat for democracy and human rights.